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Title details for The Big Bam by Leigh Montville - Available

The Big Bam

The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

by Leigh Montville
Scott Brick
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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He was the Sultan of Swat. The Caliph of Clout. The Wizard of Whack. The Bambino. And simply, to his teammates, the Big Bam. From the award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Ted Williams comes the thoroughly original, definitively ambitious, and exhilaratingly colorful biography of the largest legend ever to loom in baseball—and in the history of organized sports.
“[Montville is] one of America’s best sportswriters.” —Chicago Tribune
Babe Ruth was more than baseball’s original superstar. For eighty-five years, he has remained the sport’s reigning titan. He has been named Athlete of the Century . . . more than once. But who was this large, loud, enigmatic man? Why is so little known about his childhood, his private life, and his inner thoughts? In The Big Bam, Leigh Montville, whose recent New York Times bestselling biography of Ted Williams garnered glowing reviews and offered an exceptionally intimate look at Williams’s life, brings his trademark touch to this groundbreaking, revelatory portrait of the Babe.
Based on newly discovered documents and interviews—including pages from Ruth’s personal scrapbooks —The Big Bam traces Ruth’s life from his bleak childhood in Baltimore to his brash entrance into professional baseball, from Boston to New York and into the record books as the world’s most explosive slugger and cultural luminary. Montville explores every aspect of the man, paying particular attention to the myths that have always surrounded him. Did he really hit the “called shot” homer in the 1932 World Series? Were his home runs really “the farthest balls ever hit” in countless ballparks around the country? Was he really part black—making him the first African American professional baseball superstar? And was Ruth the high-octane, womanizing, heavy-drinking “fatso” of legend . . . or just a boyish, rudderless quasi-orphan who did, in fact, take his training and personal conditioning quite seriously?
At a time when modern baseball is grappling with hyper-inflated salaries, free agency, and assorted controversies, The Big Bam brings back the pure glory days of the game. Leigh Montville operates at the peak of his abilities, exploring Babe Ruth in a way that intimately, and poignantly, illuminates a most remarkable figure.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    May 2, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781415944325
      • File size: 450996 KB
      • Duration: 15:39:34

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The Big Bam is a superb biography of Babe Ruth, the larger-than-life home-run king and baseball's first true superstar. Exhaustively researched by acclaimed sportswriter Leigh Montville and read superbly by Scott Brick, this book is a must for every baseball fan and anyone who wants a fascinating glimpse into the life of the Babe. Brick's wry style is a perfect fit for the book, which takes the reader from the Babe's childhood to his death. Brick literally inhabits the Babe's psyche, conveying a man who appeared to many to be an illiterate drunken bumpkin but who was in reality a perceptive athlete driven to perfection. Some books this long tend to drag, but like the real-life man, this Babe is never dull. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from May 15, 2007
      It is an understatement to call George Herman Ruth larger than life. Not only did he change baseball forever when it was truly the national pastime, but his wild off-the-field antics matched his legendary home runs. As with his splendidTed Williams: The Biography of an American Hero, Montville offers a warts-and-all look at his hero, expertly balancing Babe's achievements, vulgarities, and contradictions while thoroughly analyzing his impact upon American culture. Presented as essentially a child-man incapable of resisting food, drink, gambling, and women, the Bambino is more sympathetic than Williams. Exiled to an orphanage for years, unloved by his teammates, taunted by racists for supposedly Negroid features, exploited by almost everyone he came into contact with, Ruth emerges as a tragic figure. As he did with the Williams biography and Mark Kriegel'sNamath, reader Scott Brick expertly conveys the mixture of sadness and joy in Ruth's life. Highly recommended for all collections.Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr.

      Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      With Barry Bonds having recently eclipsed Babe Ruth's career home run total, this biography of the great Yankee slugger is timely. While Ruth was an enormously public figure, some parts of his private life remain shadowy. Montville fills in a few pieces of these puzzles, and his account of the Babe's antics is funny, admiring, and skeptical--he sides with those who think the famous "called shot" homer in the 1932 World Series is a myth. Adam Grupper's narration is generally strong, despite a tendency to sound like a pitchman during some passages. In his defense, a share of the culpability lies with the text, which despite its virtues, is occasionally melodramatic. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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